Exclusive Interview With Guitarist Bumblefoot

click to enlargeRonald Jay Blumenthal (born September 25, 1969), better known by his stage name Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. He is best known for being one of the two current lead guitarists in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses. But since everyone has heard about that side of the story a million times, we wanted to talk about Ron's solo music. Thal got the name "Bumblefoot" from the bacterial infection, which he learned about while helping his wife review for her veterinary exams. Inspired by Gene Simmons at age 6 after hearing the KISS Alive! album, Thal wanted to play bass, but at that age his hands were too small and he started on guitar. Before releasing solo albums, he had songs featured on the Ominous Guitarists of the Unknown compilations. By the mid 1990s, he was becoming noticed as a guitarist of some merit, and also was known for his interesting custom guitars, such as the hand guitar and the Swiss cheese guitar. Thal joined Guns N' Roses before they embarked on a world tour in 2006, filling the position vacated by departed guitarist Buckethead. He made his live debut with the band at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on May 12, 2006. Thal performs some degree of guitar work on every track of the band's 2008 album Chinese Democracy even though he is not credited as main writer on any song.

Important Bumblefoot Links:

http://www.bumblefoot.com

http://www.facebook.com/bumblefoot

http://www.twitter.com/bumblefoot

http://www.youtube.com/bumblefoot

http://www.reverbnation.com/Bumblefoot

http://www.myspace.com/bumblefoot

http://www.last.fm/music/Bumblefoot?ac=Bumblefoot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_%22Bumblefoot%22_Thal

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